This retired Fond du Lac priest celebrated 75 years since ordination. Next? His 100th birthday
FOND DU LAC - He was born before the Great Depression and, 100 years later, he still offers Mass.
Fr. Edward Sippel this weekend celebrated his 75th anniversary of his ordination into priesthood, in the same year that he turns 100 years old.
"Many remember him for playing a prominent role in major milestones of their lives — weddings, baptisms, funerals, First Communions, and Confirmations," the church said in a news release.
A special Mass Saturday at Holy Family Church, 271 Fourth Street Way, recognized both achievements and a lifetime of religious leadership and learning.
Archdiocese of Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki could not attend in person due to a wedding, but passed along a message and gift for Sippel through Fr. Jim Lobacz, the archdiocese's vicar for senior priests.
"A lot has changed since 1947, both in the church and in our world," Lobacz said on behalf of Listecki. "But one thing that has not changed is your call, your fidelity. The people benefitted by your ministry over the years are countless."
Sippel was born in Fond du Lac on July 2, 1922, and raised in a religious-centered household, where parents Louis and Della Sippel encouraged making a difference in the community, including through volunteer work at St. Vincent de Paul.
"I had so many great examples, and the first were my parents," Sippel told The Reporter in 2017.
He attended high school at St. Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary and, inspired to enter priesthood, studied at St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee.
He was ordained June 7, 1947, and served in West Allis, Racine, Milwaukee and Waukesha. He also taught high school religion at various schools in Milwaukee and Waukesha.
Sippel returned to Fond du Lac in 1971 to serve at St. Patrick Parish, which later became part of Holy Family Catholic Community. He was a distinguished figure at the church, and a familiar face for important events in church members' lives.
"You get a great deal of personal satisfaction through this kind of work," he said before his retirement in 1991. "I look back and am pretty happy with the way I spent my life. We all have a need to feel needed, and being in this line of work satisfies that need."
Since his retirement, he's maintained his parents' legacy and continued to serve the community, offering Mass when he's called upon and having acted as chaplain at the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes.
He also has helped maintain the garden at the congregation, as well as the Fond du Lac Community Garden and his own garden.
A recording of Saturday's Mass is available on the Holy Family FdL YouTube channel.
Contact Daphne Lemke at dlemke@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @daphlemke.
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Father Sippel celebrates 75 years as a priest near 100th birthday
